I was watching "The Correspondents" show last night. This is one of the documentary shows in the Philippines and I am able to watch it through The Filipino Channel (TFC Now) in my computer. It's a cheap entertainment for me ($7.95) a month and I am able to watch all the shows I used to watch while in the Philippines.

FYI: If you're eating or about to eat please don't watch the video. :)

This episode is about those scavengers whom they call “Magbabatchoy.” They were called as such because they earn their living by gathering leftover food (usually from food giants Jollibee and McDonald. Jollibee is a Philippine version of Mcdonald and Mcdonald in the Philippines serves chicken and rice with gravy) hunger-stricken families, at P20 to P40 ( $.50-$.80) . These leftovers are cooked in oil and called “batchoy”.

While watching the show, I felt a mixture of feelings. My heart was breaking and I felt a mixture of pity, anger and at some point I felt like throwing up. I felt sick watching them going through the trash using their hands (without gloves) to separate the leftover food from the rest of the thrash ( plastic cups, straws, napkins etc.) Despite the things that the “magbabatchoy” does, I realized that while their labor may be disgusting, these people cannot in no way be called disgusting. I admired their strength of character to go to the level of picking those disgusting leftovers just to bring something to their table whenever they and their children got hungry. A lot of us don’t have to work as “difficult” and as “undignified” as them just to eat.

I have to admit when I first got here from the Philippines My heart was broken many times seeing a lot of food inside the trash. I had to tell them many times not to throw away food in the trash and the kids learned the hard way. I'm glad they're not doing that now. It also breaks my heart when there's a church activity here, there's always a lot of leftovers thrown in the trash. In the Philippines, there's never a leftover even at church activity. We're lucky if there's enough food for everyone to eat.

As a child, I have experience some hard times (at times we have to eat porridge with salt on it, sometimes we we went to bed without any food in our stomach) but not to this extent. The case of the “magbabatchoy” is a clear proof of the alarming state of poverty in the Philippines. It shows how eating three meals a day can be so difficult. It shows how much some people put up just to have food in their table. Contrast these to our lives here, there's always food to eat and yet we complained. There are clothes to wear, cars to drive around, a pair of shoes to wear, toys to play with and still we complained. One of the things I like in here is the abundance of food. If those people are lucky enough to have an equivalent of a $1 or $2 to spend for leftover food how much lucky we are to have food to eat more than three times a day? How much we're spending for a pair of shoes, for toys and for clothes?

I am glad that I can help my family in the Philippines so that they don't have to experience this. I wish I have more extra than just to help my family there. It has always been my desire to help not just my family but to those who are deprived (especially food). I hope someday I can.